Gameplay Fundamentals Revisited: Harnessed Pacing & Intensity

[Former EA and THQ design director Lopez continues his analytical series by looking at pacing in games versus films and TV, explaining how careful planning can produce a perfect intensity curve for games. In the next installment of Gameplay Fundamentals, Lopez will focus on how to build a pacing structure which can sustain the interest of gamers over the course of your title -- focusing on nine key points that will improve pacing and increase engagement.]

My initial Gameplay
Fundamentals article was oriented towards the macro concept of
gameplay progression in a campaign or career and how environmental content
should be planned and structured from level to level to support such a
progression in all areas (mechanics, duration, ancillary awards, practical
rewards and difficulty).

But the need to plan and structure
environmental content does not only support the concept of progression; the
structured environment plan is also very critical to the concepts of game
intensity and pacing at both the mission and campaign level.

All of the more
mature entertainment industries (movie, TV and books) successfully use
structured intensity and pacing to build the ultimate experience, and we should look to them for relevant lessons on both emotional control and production
efficiency.

The top Hollywood blockbuster movies, such
as the James
Bond films have successfully been utilizing intensity and
pacing structure for at least the last 30 years now, so we can learn a lot
about their techniques for how they pre-plan and structure the action into
their movies.

While movies and even written fiction have
some strong lessons to teach the game industry about pacing, it is really the
modern TV drama that lends our closest and most relevant comparison, where a
single episode is akin to a game level, mission, or course, and an entire season
to an entire campaign or career.

Just as the amazing teams on the top TV
dramas 24,
Prison
Break and Lostcarefully pre-structure the plot and
shoot sequences to maximize the intensity and pacing, I believe that the games with
the highest quality experiences (Ratchet
& Clank, Splinter Cell, Halo, Zelda, Metal Gear Solid,
etc.) have carefully structured their single-player level content to precisely
control the pacing and to ratchet up the intensity.

In fact, if we designers are hoping
to deliver an experience as delightfully exciting and enjoyable as Lost, Prison
Break, or 24,we
need to begin during pre-production by pre-planning a carefully structured
intensity and pacing plan for all environments, levels, or courses.

Then, as
discussed in my initial article, we
need to create an overall gameplay progression plan to ensure that the
challenge and gameplay experience progressively increase throughout the entire
campaign or career.

Predicting
Intensity

To illustrate the
benefits of structured intensity
and pacing, let's look at an
intensity graph. An average intensity graph for a single segment of entertainment
(e.g. an episode of a show or a level of a game) would display an ever
increasing curve, where the rate of growth is increasing over time (the black
arc in Figure 1).

In practice,
however, a perfectly arced intensity is impossible to attain since the intensity
of entertainment is always fluctuating -- and a perfect curve is even
undesirable since it lacks any contrast. Peaks in intensity occur during
exciting events, and troughs occur during lull periods lacking in excitement
or action. It is in fact the contrast between the two which makes the
action super riveting, exciting and satisfying.

Although both
graphs in Fig. 1 have the same
building intensity overall, the green graph will provide a much more exciting
and satisfying experience; the contrast between the peaceful calm and the
intense action will punctuate and maximize the impact of the events.

In the green graph of Fig. 1above, the intensity is the excitement magnitude of
the event and the pacing is the frequency between similarly intense events
(peak to peak or trough to trough).

In the real entertainment world, the term "pacing"
is often used in a broader sense that encompasses both the rhythm of events and
the magnitude of intensity, so we will follow that convention moving forward
-- except where we specifically indicate the intensity component separate from the
time and distance pacing.

Movie Structure

Any movie review
which proclaims the experience is "a rollercoaster ride" is usually
a good indication that the intensity and pacing are well structured and
executed in the film.

So, how exactly
does Hollywood structure the
intensity and pacing for a blockbuster film? Simple -- they plan out a
relative intensity graph which shows an initial spike, then a wave with
incrementally increasing peaks and troughs.

Next they come up with the key
action or excitement scenes which they order in terms of the magnitude of
impact. Usually, they set these events to occur around the transition from
one act to another; this event sequencing fits within the three-act
structure (Figure 2)
that includes a setup act (optionally preceded by a prologue), a
confrontation act, and a final resolution act.

Fig. 2: A Blockbuster Intensity Graph

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